The field of the invention relates generally to systems and methods for processing payment transactions and, more particularly, to systems and methods for processing account-on-file transactions that include automatically notifying an acquirer bank of an updated payment card number or expiration date after a corresponding denial indicator is sent from an issuer bank in transactions in which the payment card itself is not present.
The payment card industry includes payment transactions wherein a payment cardholder makes a purchase, but the physical payment card is not present. These transactions are known as “card-not-present” (CNP) transactions. In such transactions, information regarding the payment card, including an account number and, in many instances, an expiration date for the payment card is transmitted from a merchant, along with an indicator that the transaction is a CNP transaction. An “account-on-file” transaction is a type of transaction in which the merchant stores information regarding the cardholder's payment card in a database, then retrieves the stored payment card information and includes it in at least one authorization request. One specific type of account-on-file transaction is a “recurring payment transaction”, which a merchant initiates on a recurring basis for a particular cardholder. In such recurring payment transactions, the merchant stores information regarding the cardholder's payment card in a database, then retrieves the stored payment card information and includes it in each recurring authorization request.
An example is a gym membership. Rather than mailing a monthly check for membership with a gym, a cardholder might choose to register a payment card, such as a credit card, a debit card, or a prepaid card, with the gym. Registering the payment card with the gym enables the gym to automatically charge the payment card for the monthly dues on a particular day each month. In some such systems, the merchant stores an account number, an expiration date, and/or other information associated with the payment card and/or cardholder. Given the convenience of this payment model for both merchants and cardholders, it finds use in many other scenarios where a cardholder is a member of a club or subscriber of products or services. Accordingly, multiple merchants may have stored payment card information for the same cardholder. Likewise, any given merchant may have stored payment card information for multiple cardholders.
A downside, however, is that information regarding a payment card is subject to change. For example a cardholder's payment card might be lost or stolen. In other instances, a data security breach might occur that necessitates reissuing payment cards with different card numbers to customers of an issuer. In other instances, a payment card might expire, causing a new payment card to be issued with a new expiration date. In yet other instances, a payment card account might be closed. When such information changes, an authorization request containing the old information is denied by the issuer of the payment card. As a result, the merchant who originally submitted the authorization request is prevented from successfully obtaining payment until the merchant acquires the updated payment card information. Due to wide adoption of the account-on-file payment model by merchants and cardholders, it is understandably difficult for a cardholder to update each merchant with new payment card information. Likewise, it reduces the benefits of the account-on-file payment model to require a merchant to inquire with each cardholder for updated payment card information prior to submitting each payment authorization request. Accordingly, improvements are desired.